Interlocking block



April 7, 1953 W 0, NELSON 2,633,662

INTERLOCKING BLOCK Filed oct. 9, 195o INVENTOR. W/J 7@ 0. A/ZSOA/ Patented Apr. 7, 19`53 Y treo TENT oFF-'ICE INTERLOCKING BLOCK Walter 0. Nelson, Grand Forks, N. Dak.

Application October 9, 1950, Serial No. 189,105

1 Claim. l

This invention relates to a toy and more particularly to a toy utilizing a plurality of blocks that may be arranged in various configurations, that may be stacked and interlocked in constructing various types of gures and designs.

An object of this invention is to provide a hexagonal toy block having radially disposed slots, the widths of which are substantially equal to the thickness of the block, the slots being associated with recesses used in interlocking projections on the face of the block to interlock the blocks.

Another object of this invention is to provide a plastic block provided with wings having recesses so as to provide flexibility to permit the blocks to be interlocked.

Other objects and advantages reside in the construction of parts, the combination thereof and the mode of operation, as will become more apparent from the following description.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view of a block.

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view, taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing two interlocking blocks.

Figures 4 and 5 are schematic views illustrating two design lay-outs that may be constructed by the use of the blocks disclosed herein.

Referring to the drawings, the reference character Ill designates a block having six sides l2, each side being bisected by a radially disposed slot I4, the depth of the slots It being slightly less than half the perpendicular distance from the center of the block to the side. The width of the slot is greater, but not much greater, than the thickness of the block. Adjacent slots cooperate with two adjacent side portions to form a wing-like extension I6. Each of the wing-like extensions is provided with hollowed out cavities or recesses 20, one on each side thereof, leaving a reduced portion 22, as clearly shown in Figure 2. The thickness of the reduced portion is much less than the maximum thickness of the main body of the block. The sides I2 are bevelled at 24. Each of the wing-like extensions i6 is provided with two rounded recesses 3B, one on each side. These recesses 30 cooperate with semispherical projections 32 to interlock blocks, as clearly shown in Figure 3. Each of the semispherical projections is oifset from a center line of the nearest slot, which center line passes through the center of the block.

The thickness of each block is only a small fraction of the breadth of the block. The thickness may be on the order of ten percent of the breadth 2 of the block. 'Ihe depth of each slot is slightly less than one-fourth the altitude of the block, as clearly seen from Figure 1. The distance of each projection 32 to the nearest slot is substantially equal to the distance from the recess 30 to the bottom of its slot.

In order to assemble the blocks by slipping one block into the recess of another block, the wing-like extensions are flexed suiiiciently so as to permit the semi-spherical projections 32 to snap into position. The relative positions of the recesses 30 and the projections 32 are such that two projections on one block are seated in two recesses adjacent a slot in another block, the projections of said other block being seated in recesses in the first block, so that when two blocks are interlocked, four projections are seated in four recesses, thereby insuring a firm, rigid coupling of the blocks. It is to be noted that the blocks are interlocked when the blocks are in planes at right angles to each other and the slot of one block registers with the slot of another block, the two slots overlapping each other while the interlocking movement of the two blocks is initiated.

Each block is provided at its center with an aperture il), which may be used for supporting a shaft in the event it is so desired, which shaft may support pulleys, motors, reels, or any other rotatable or non-rotatable part. This permits the use of blocks in erecting frames to be used in a manner similar to toys generally known in the trade as Tinker Toys.

The blocks lend themselves to the construction of numerous types of designs, two of which have been schematically shown in Figures 4 and 5. In Figure 4 the blocks have been arranged so as to suggest a hexagonal figure. In this particular gure the center block is used for supporting six vertically disposed blocks, each of which supports a block in the plane of the center block. The six vertically disposed blocks cooperate to form a hexagonal opening aligned with the center in the center block. The bevelled edges 24 of the six vertically disposed blocks are brought into contact with each other. By this arrangement the aperture formed by the six vertically disposed blocks is smaller than if the bevelled edges 24 were omitted. In Figure 5 the blocks have been arranged to form a parallelogram. In Figures 4 and 5 the blocks have been shown schematically for the purpose of illustrating uses to which the blocks may be put.

Although the preferred embodiment of the device has been described, it will be understood of the blockbeing 'onlya fraction of the width of the block, the sides being bisected by a slot,Y having a width slightly greater but not much" greater than the thickness of the blockgpsaid' slots having a depth equal to slightlf/lessthan one-fourth of the altitude of theblockythe'slots' from adjacent sides cooperating cwithradjacentv portions of the sides to form wing-like extensions, said Wing-like extensions being provided fwith recesses on each side-so that the thickness ofirth f wing-likevextensitinsffis thinner than L ther4 maximumfthi'ckz'iessr'oivv the block,''said slots-.being proVidedfv-with -rounded recesses',l there .being one recess1-on2each l' sideof-y the "slot," each'V recess being f locatedfA inf-a marginv of# the I=slctapproximately at the midpoint thereof, the recess in one marginv` of-vthe f-slot 'beinglo'cated onone --sideof the --block and the `othersrecess -of -theslot being `located on the opposite side of the block, and semispherical projections extending outwardly from the side of the block, the projections on one side of the block being offset from the projections on the opposite side of the block, the amount of oiset corresponding to the oiset distance between the rounded recesses of a slot. the projections being located between the slots in the center of the block, the distance of each projection frlornfthe bottomiiof the nearestiadjacent slot beingsubstantially equalto-*th'e `distance from the rounded recess to the bottom of the slot, said semi-spherical projections being adapted to be seated inv recesses of like blocks for interlocking the blocks.

WALTER O. NELSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the iileof thispatent:

Number, i. Name Datei:

1,371,619',` Greenstreet Mar. 15, 1921. i 1,424,376 Purdy; .Aug.' 1 1922 1,531,542 Cogsha1l .Malt 31, 1925 '1 2,461,535 Erhardt Feb. 15, ,1949,23 

